The Star Shard by Frederic S. Durbin

This beautifully written fantasy tackles the issues of slavery and freedom. Twelve-year-old Cymbril is a slave on Thunder Rake, a gigantic wagon city that rolls from town to town carrying goods to be sold by its resident merchants. The Rake’s master purchases a new slave, a mysterious boy named Loric who is one of the magical Fey. Because he can see in the dark, Loric’s duty is to guide the Rake through the treacherous wilderness at night.Cymbril and Loric secretly join forces to plan their escape—soon the two friends thread their way through a series of increasing dangers, encountering an enchanted market and deadly monsters as their one chance for freedom draws nearer.

Unrated Critic Reviews for The Star Shard

Kirkus Reviews

On “wheels seven times as tall as a man,” the Rake is propelled across land by a rowing system of levers, gears and “tremendous claws, gouging the ground, drawing the vessel forward.” Because the claws destroy the ground, the Rake must “follow the wildest country where no one built or planted,” y...

City Book Review

Portland Book Review

He has created a world full of possibilities and danger in Rake and the towns it travels to and shows a world in which bargaining for anything and everything is the status quo among humans and fae alike.

Fantasy Literature

Along the way, Cymbril learns more not only about Loric, the Fey, and magic, but also about her own self and her past, as well as the history of the city she’s called home (though it was not her first home).The plot is a bit predictable, though there are a few nice surprises to spice things up a ...